It is not true that mathematics has never been able to arouse people's interest. At least this
is our feeling as mathematicians when we meet the general public to explain what we are dealing
with in our work what is the usefulness of mathematics and how it becomes possible to catch
its harmony and beauty. Also the cinema changed its attitude on the matter and some
screenplays started to show mathematicians engaged in their work while some recent theatrical
pieces have a mathematician as a main character. These considerations stimulated some of us to
organize the review Mathematics and Theatre which offered to a general audience the
opportunity to attend performances and at the same time to hear something about prime numbers
Galois' theory or simply about the relationship between science mathematics and power at
Napoleon's times. This volume which has its origin in the activities performed in Bologna in
2004 is dedicated to all those who are curious about mathematics but also more generally
about theatre cinema literature arts and science. Thanks to the DVD one can relive various
events through the voices and the images of the participants.
